Bolivia 1647-P Z 8 reales
This specimen was lot 72054 in Stack's Bowers Collectors Choice Online Auction (Costa Mesa, CA, October 2024), where it sold for $2,160. The catalog description[1] noted, "BOLIVIA. Cob 8 Reales, 1647-P Z. Potosi Mint. Philip IV. PCGS VF-30. Barely visible mintmark and assayer, though denomination is clear. Final three digits of date are also clear on the reverse. From the S.P. Rutherford Collection." This type was struck 1622-47, throughout the first part of the reign of Philip IV. Dates were added in 1617; even so, many are so crudely made that the dates are not legible. This type is rare; it was never made in large quantities and nearly all melted down in the great remintage of 1649-52 when the debased cobs were called in. Assayer Z operated 1647-49 only and was probably deeply implicated in the debasement fraud. Assayer R also stamped coins in 1647.
Recorded mintage: unknown.
Specification: 27.07 g, 0.931 fine silver, this specimen 27.84 g.
Catalog reference: KM-19a; Cayón-3469.
- Cayón, Adolfo, Clemente Cayón and Juan Cayón, Las Monedas Españolas, del Tremis al Euro: del 411 a Nuestros Dias, 2 volumes, Madrid: Cayón-Jano S.L., 2005.
- Calicó, Xavier, Numismática Española: Catálogo General con Precios de Todas las Monedas Españolas Acuñadas desde Los Reyes Católicos Hasta Felipe VI, 1474 a 2020, Barcelona: Aureo & Calicó, 2019.
- Cuhaj, George S., and Thomas Michael, Standard Catalog of World Coins, 1601-1700, 6th ed., Iola, WI: Krause Publications, 2014.
- Menzel, Sewall, Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins, New York: The American Numismatic Society, 2004.
- [1]Orsini, Matt, Kyle Ponterio and Jeremy Bostwick, October 2024 World Collectors Choice Online Auction, featuring the S.P. Rutherford Collection, Costa Mesa, CA: Stack's Bowers Galleries, Inc., 2024.
Link to: